Did partisan $$$ swing non-partisan mayor’s race?

Countless Atlantans volunteered for Kasim Reed last fall, helping a second-place candidate win the top job in city government. But, in a tight nonpartisan race, partisan campaigning may have been the critical ingredient that vaulted him past Mary Norwood. The Georgia Democratic Party spent at least $165,000 to attack her and contribute to an unprecedented 8 percent jump in turnout for the Dec. 1 runoff. Reed won by barely 700 votes after trailing four weeks earlier by more than 7,000. If not for that surge of Reed voters, Norwood would be Atlanta’s mayor. Read on …